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Bolt Action Marine Landing

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Bolt Action game. This was the largest Bolt Action game the group has played, with about 60 units. US Marines landed on a beach defended by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Pins keep some Marine units from advancing.

A flamethrower takes out an objective bunker.

A Japanese tank is destroyed from the rear by a heavy MG on a halftrack.

With two of three objective bunkers destroyed and the third under effective artillery fire, the game was ended after seven turns.

Bay of Algiers, 1914, Again

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using a modified version of a scenario tested previously.

This fleet action is based on the Triple Alliance naval convention of 1913, as described in “The Great War at Sea” by Sondhaus. The plan was for the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets and any German ships in the Mediterranean to engage the French Fleet and block the Algerian troop transports. This scenario assumes that the war starts in February 1914, and that the British Mediterranean squadron joins the French.

The confrontation occurs north of the Bay of Algiers.

Visibility 18,000 yards. Wind NNW at 3 knots. Seastate 1

Status at the end of the game: alg2 io

Damage output file: alg2-output

Plot of ship movements:
0 to 20 minutes alg plot 0-20
20 to 40 minutes alg plot 20-40
40 to 55 minutes alg plot 40-55
55 to 70 minutes alg plot 55-70
full plot alg plot all

Computer code (described here)

Both fleets turn to the north, away from the coast.

French and Italian destroyers pass each other to attack the opposite fleet.

Goeben and Dante Alighieri head around the southern French flank while the rest of the forces close.

Two British battlecruisers, Inflexible and Indefatigable, are lost.

The Austrian battleships take heavy damage, as does Dante Alighieri and Indomitable.

The French had more undamaged ships when we quit, so the troop transports should be safe.

Seekrieg 5 – Newcastle Raid

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using the Seekrieg 5 rules. A German squadron has bombarded Newcastle and is returning home but is spotted by a British dirigible. While still 200 miles from Heligoland, it is intercepted by a British squadron to the SSW.

German Squadron:
Armored cruisers Roon, Yorck, Prinz Adalbert
Light cruiser Pillau

British Squadron:
Armored cruisers Defence, Shannon
Light cruisers Arethusa, Aurora

The Pillau uses its speed to pass the head of the British squadron. The British light cruisers are at the rear and attempt to close with the German line without fouling the range for the armored cruisers.

A lot of shooting but no significant damage. The Pillau holds her fire to avoid interfering with the heavier ship’s gunnery.

The Arethusa is blown up by the Prinz Adalbert.

View from the east. The Pillau runs down the back side of the British line, taking heavy fire and launching a torpedo.

We quit after 11 turns due to the time. On the British side, Defence and Shannon were lightly damaged with no critical hits, Arethusa was gone and Aurora was down to 16 knots with boiler and engine damage. On the German side, Roon had more than 40% damage and had lost a main turret, Yorck was gone, Prinz Adalbert had light damage and Pillau had medium damage.